This invention relates to magnetically suspended vehicles and particularly magnetic suspension railroad vehicles.
In order to improve the riding comfort of magnetic suspension vehicles, so-called secondary suspensions have been interposed between the vehicle's chassis, with its supporting and guide magnets, and the superstructure or car body. These suspensions are often suitable for preventing annoying vibrations in the body due to alignment errors in the track. Such vibratory decoupling of the magnetically suspended chassis from the superstructure of the car to prevent vibrations by spring mounting the mass of the body naturally imposes a lower dynamic load on the magnets than a magnetic suspension car with rigidly mounted magnets.
The resulting reduction of the dynamic loads may possibly suffice for magnetic suspension railways whose line, composed of the substructure and rails, is dynamically rigid and whose rails are very accurately aligned. However, this possibility must be disregarded for economic reasons. The ordinary line is elastic and the rails exhibit alignment errors.
As is known, the additional reduction needed in the dynamic load of the magnets can be achieved by using a single relatively elastic suspension chassis. However, such chasses form undesirably difficult vibration structures, with unstable bending vibrations, which must be actively stabilized by regulating devices.
Consideration has been given to a so-called resilient single magnet suspension. There, the magnets form the links of a magnet chain composed of several individual magnets arranged in series in the longitudinal direction of the car. The magnets are connected with the magnetic suspension vehicle over a suspension acting parallel to its magnetic force. The suspension requires positive or cross-head guides for the individual magnets. The entire arrangement requires a relatively large structural expenditure for the magnetic suspension vehicle. If the expenditure is not made, the individual magnets may be deflected about their pitch and roll axes. As a result, they may strike against the associated rail. This is so because, without special precautions, a single resiliently mounted magnet is unstable in three ways. Specifically, it is unstable with regard to translatory movements and the direction of the action of the magnetic force. It is unstable with regard to pitching movements. It is also unstable with respect to rolling movements. However, only the translatory instability can be eliminated by control arrangements.
An object of the invention is to provide a magnetic suspension vehicle of the above mentioned type with a resilient single magnet suspension without the aforementioned positive guides, etc., which nevertheless avoid deflection of the individual magnet about its pitch and roll axes.